Ewing, NY — The State University of New York at New Paltz men's and women's swim teams wrapped up their competition at the College of New Jersey Invitational on Sunday, with both teams finishing in third place overall over the course of the three-day competition. 

Going into the final day, both the Hawks men's and women's teams ranked third, with 325 points on the men's side and 492.5 on the women's, and maintained those placements throughout the day Sunday. Along with SUNY New Paltz, Merchant Marine Academy and Salisbury University ranked behind the hosting Lions, who finished Saturday with 1,028 points (men) and 834 points (women). The Mariners of Merchant Marine ranked second on both sides, while the Sea Gulls were fourth. 

On Sunday, TCNJ put together another strong performance, en route to 1,227 points on the women's side and 1,501 on the men's, both of which ended up being comfortable victories. Merchant Marine finished second, with 808.5 on the women's side and 1,081 on the men's. The Hawks finished firmly in third place, as the women totaled 704.5 points and the men 471. Salisbury finished last with 497 points and 236. 

"I couldn't be happier with our results this weekend, and the way we carried ourselves on deck," said SUNY New Paltz swimming coach Matthew Distler. "Our freshmen on both sides had fantastic showings, and also made huge strides with their race day mentality. Our seniors also had great weekends in terms of time and leadership." 

The women's freshmen group Distler mentioned includes Ginny Frazee, Kaylee Gallagher, Chloe Jeffares, Alex Kassian, Abigail Keiser, Naomi Levey, Candela Sandoval, and Angelina Somma, while the seniors include Victoria Bogdanski, and Natalia Giunta. Nicki Robibero is a graduate student. The men's freshmen include Korey Barber, Euan Barclay, Nicholas Brown, Xavier Calderon, Paul Castner, Samuel Debbie, Venn Engstrom, Luke Hoyt, Steven Macaluso, and Brandon Molina. The men's side boasts just two seniors, Ethan Bonney and Akiva Garfield, while Leo Litovsky is a graduate student.  

In the first event on the final day, the 1,650-yard freestyle relay, the Lions Faith Cortright finished first with a time of 18:27.0. In the men's 1,650 free relay, TCNJ took first again with Lukas Blatch's 15:57.91. Bonney finished sixth, with a time of 17:06.36, Molina placed ninth (17:21.57), Barclay 16th (18:03.15), and Garfield came in at 23rd with a time of 20:13.47. 

The women's 200-yard backstroke final saw SUNY New Paltz have one of their best finishes of the weekend, with Delilah Griger placing second with a time of 2:14.19. Bogdanski and Frazee finished eighth and ninth in that event with times of 2:19.63 and 2:24.15, respectively. In the prelims of the 200 backstroke, Griger placed third (2:16.35), Bogdanski seventh (2:21.91), and Frazee 13th (2:31.12). 

In the men's 200 backstroke, TCNJ claimed the top four spots, with Ryan Higgins leading the way with a time of 1:51.57. The Hawks took eighth (Myles Dower, 2:04.91), 10th (Zac Brown, 2:07.67), and 14th (Garfield, 2:19.84). Dower also placed eighth in the 200 back prelim, with a time of 2:04.90. Caster was 11th, with a time of 2:09.24, Brown 13th at 2:09.65, and Garfield 15th at 2:22.59. 

Donlevy placed a strong fourth in the 100-yard freestyle, with a time of 54.67. Kathryn Kolar (57.39) was eighth, and Julia Iaboni (57.38) 11th. All female SUNY New Paltz swimmers, with the exception of Kirsten Giovanniello, Giunta, Kassian and Sandoval, participated in the 100 free heat, with Donlevy placing third with a time of 55.48. 

The Lions' Blatch also took first in the men's 100-yard free, with a time of 47.52. Macaluso (49.23, sixth place) registered the best time for the Hawks in that event, as Engstrom was DQ'd. Macaluso's finals' time was an improvement from his prelim time of 48.59. 

Kassian (2:36.76) was a top three finisher in the women's 200-yard breaststroke final, while Levey (2:47.73) placed seventh, and Caroline Bilitch (2:52.18) and Robibero (2:52.75) finished in eighth and ninth place. Kassian was also second in the prelim of that event, with a time of 2:35.63. 

On the men's side in the 200 breaststroke, Mason Kennedy had the highest placing for SUNY New Paltz, 12th, with a time of 2:19.51.  Fellow teammates Calderon (2:21.00) and Hoyt (2:21.18) were 15th and 16th. Though they didn't make the cut in the final, Engstrom (2:26.58), Litovsky (2:27.78), Debbie (2:29.53), Garfield (2:34.46) and Brian Larossa (2:55.93) placed 17th, 19th, 20th, 21st, and 22nd in the 200 breaststroke prelim. 

The women's 200-yard butterfly final saw TCNJ take the top three spots, while Giovannello (who placed fifth in the prelim with a time of 2:19.79) finished seventh for the Hawks with a time of 2:18.62. Also finishing in the top ten were Sandoval (2:25.52, ninth) and Somma (2:25.53, 10th). Giunta (2:31.77) placed 11th, while Pazderski (2:39.12) and Keiser (2:41.83) finished 15th and 16th, respectively. 

The men peaked at eighth place in the 200 butterfly, with Barber registering 2:03.70. Nicholas Brown (2:08.98) was 11th, while Owen Rowlands finished two spots behind him, at 13 with a time of 2:11.05.  Not qualifying for the 200 butterfly final, but competing in the prelim, was Garfield along with Ryan LaDue. LaDue finished 18th in the prelim with a time of 2:26.04, while Garfield (2:51.68) was 20th. 

The 400-yard freestyle relays were two of the most successful events for the men and women on the day, as both sides garnered top-five finishes, including a second-place finish for the women and two top-five times for the men. 

While the Lions took both events, the men's foursome of Engstrom, Macaluso, Barber, Litovsky (3:19.99) took third place, while Hoyt, Kennedy, Dower, and Barclay (3:29.70) finished fifth, and LaDue, Larossa, Debbie, and Garfield (3:49.80) took seventh. The group of Rowlands, Zac Brown, Castner, and Bonney were DQ'd. 

The women's four that finished second place was Griger, Donlevy, Kolar, and Kassian, who timed 3:44.75. Iaboni, Sandoval, Giovanniello, and Somma (3:58.01) placed eighth, while Jeffares, Fisher, Levey, and Kaiser (4:06.48) placed 11th, and Giunta, Frazee, Robibero and Shannon Corr were 13th with a time of 4:12.02. 

With third-place finishes by the men and women at the TCNJ Invitational now in the rearview, the team and Distler now look to the final four days of regular season play in the new year. A well deserved rest for the holidays is up next, before returning to action in home competitions against Pace University (Jan. 12), SUNY Cortland (Jan. 14), Skidmore (Jan. 19), and SUNY Oneonta (Feb. 5) to finish out the regular season. 

"Considering that many of our athletes spent almost a year without regular practices going into this season, we are in a great spot," said Distler. "We have a lot of work still to do though, so I am already looking forward to our next official practice in January." 

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